Google plans to take wearable device to the next level, even when its Glass has yet to become wide available in the market. The tech giant has filed a patent application to the USPTO to embed tiny cameras in contact lenses. These Google contact lenses are aimed for various uses, such as providing basic input for a contact-based assistive device for people with visual impairment.
Also, as what many Google Glass haters may have thought, these contact lenses can capture images of what the wearer sees.
This follows Google’s previous patent application of developing “smart contact lenses” that would monitor the wearer’s blood sugar levels, providing a non-invasive method of measuring it among diabetics. There is a possibility that both patents would be combined for future Google contact lenses.
If the company is bent on shipping these lenses soon, Google needs to tackle the growing negative perception among wearable devices that can take images of people without their knowledge. This feature has been a cause of disdain towards wearers of Google Glass, wherein a journalist was recently attacked in San Francisco.
We should note that many tech companies patent hundreds–even thousands–of patents over time, but only a fraction of which are manufactured and even a handful of them would be shipped.
Source: TechCrunch
